ppl. a. and sb. [ad. L. accumbent-em, pr. pple. of accumb-ĕre: see ACCUMB.]
A. adj.
1. Lying up to, or reclining at table.
1727. C. Arbuthnot, Anct. Coins, etc. 134. The Roman recumbent or (more properly) accumbent posture in eating was introduc’d after the first Punick War.
2. Anat. and Bot. Lying against anything; used in opposition to incumbent, or lying upon something. A term applied to the embryo of crucifers, when the cotyledons have their edges longitudinally applied to the folded radicle.
1680. Charleton, Enq. Human Nat., 36. Having on the right side, the Liver not only accumbent but incumbent upon it.
1835. Hooker, Brit. Flora, 294. Thlaspi: Pouch laterally compressed, emarginate; valves winged at the back, many-seeded. Cotyledons accumbent (O=).
B. sb. One who reclines at table according to the ancient manner. Hence generally, One who is at table (without regard to posture).
1656. Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit. (1851), 91. What a penance must be done by every accumbent, in sitting out the passage through all these dishes.
